Filling head having overflow valve check means



Dec. 22, 1953 c. L. DAY ETAL 2,663,433

FILLING HEAD HAVING OVERFLOW VALVE CHECK MEANS Filed Jan. 26 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS:

James EFheeZe,

' ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 22, 1953 c. L. DAY ETAL 2,663,483

FILLING HEAD HAVING OVERFLOW VALVE CHECK MEANS Filed Jan. 26, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J ames E.F7;e 492 e 2 ATTORNEYS.

Patented Dec. 22, 1953 UNITED STATES OFFICE FIIJLiNG HEAD HAVING OVERFLOW VALVE CHECK IWEAN S arl iiay and James E. Freeze, harme Md; assignors to crown Cork a; sear o iii'lsanyfgins Baltimore, Mdq a corporation of New' York A iplication January 26, 1950, Serial N6. 140,572

1 Glaini;

The present invention relates to filling heads for use on counterp'res'sure beverage fillers.

In the filling" of carbonated beverages, it is usual to provide a filling reservoir containing 9'; body of carbonated liquid together with a body of gas above the liquid. Bottles or other containers are filled from the reservoir by first operating the filling head valve to es'ta ish connterpressure in the bottle, vi z".,- a eressurece respondi g to that existing in the reservoir above the liquid. Then the valve is operated to cause liquid to flow into the bottle While the counterpressure is returned to the reservoir, the liquid rising in the bottle until it covers the coqnter fessur' escape port. At that moment, the filling head valve should be" operated to ston liquid flow and c'ounter'pressore' return.

Rotary filling machine's may have as many as fifty filling heads. Even if all (if'th filling Head passages are carefully" machined to exact nie'as-' urein'ents, flow of liquid through someof the filling heads is've'ry apt to be slower than through others. However, in order to prevent short filling, the fining headvalve' trip which operates the valvesto stop liquid new Inust be sojpositioned that it will accommodate the slowest flowing fill ing head of the machine. This results in making it possible for bottles ber'ieaththe faster flowing filling heads to become filled to the prose-realm before the valve is operated to stop liquid flow. Surplus liquid flowed into" such bottles will rise in the counterp'ressure'retiirn passage of the'filling head. I

Any liquid which rises in the counterpres'sure return passage will be blown into the bottle next placed beneath such fillih'ghe'ad, and, more Darticularly, when the filling" head is operated to produce counterpres'sure flow'into such next bottle. If any substantial amount of liquid is thus blown into an emptybottl'e or a bottlecontaining a charge of syrup, foaming will be initiated which may interfere with filling of the bottle. In order to avoid this, it has been proposed to' provide filling machines with relatively expensiveequipinent to blow 1iquid mm" the couiiteiprss'ur return passage of each filling heeaintermeante each filling cycle. H v

An object of the" present invention is to pro- Vide a filling headinoll'ldifigmealis to limit the' rise of liquid in thecou'nterp'res'sure return pas sage. r .J

Another object of" the invention is to DIOVI'CIE" means of the'abo've character and which is ot such design that it'" readily can be incorporated in afilling' head of the rainy-disc valve type;

2 Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent 'ron'i tli followiiig specification and an" i 'sf wherein:

Figure I is' a side elevation, partly in vertical section, r a fillinghead, thefilli'ng head being illustrated attached to the filling reservoir su port of a filling machine and the sufip'ort being shown in radial section. Y I

igure 2 is an1lvation tim seat face of a filling head bod'y element, persons being in seeion.

Figure 3 isafi enlarged detail view of a retain.- in'g means' mounted in a counter res'sur return passage, and

Figure 4 is a I N top plan view of the retaining means Qi i f r 3-. .v y. i

The fillin head a illustrated in the drawings is of thegeneral construction disclosed in George J. I luntley and' R'obe t J. Stewart Patent, No. 2,145,765, issued Ja 'ry 31, 1939, fer Filling Machine. nen efi as head 6' includes a body element 1 provid' "1th as'ea't face 8, Also, a central stud; I'D) pr ects frond seat face" 8 and a ar valve; 12 rotates smut stun-10:50 control flow throu h the filling head. Body element 1 igisecured: to the'p'e'riphery of a flange l4 extending oinwardly from" the li'sllaglj filling reservoir. As is customary in r tary filling machines for beverages, the filling reservoir rotatsabovearis with a table" including bottle: supporting" platforms" which savanna-11y reciprocable in alignment with the nozzles off we fillingihe ad'. Also, the

voir' will be substantially" constant' and' that a bodyo'f gas at suitable pressure will be maintain edabovetl iesuria 101? the liquid.

As isbest shown in glirf 2, body element lis providedwith a pluralityjof passages extendin horizontally therethrough' from its' rear face l6 to tsseat face these passages including gas Passages 29 andgfi andfla; liquid passage 2 L The gas passages reams 22 are connected to" the up'pefportion o'f the ieseitoirbypipingzai Body element"! also has its Seat fa c 8-156 i which carries the' 'fi discfvalve-f l2 of thefill g a passage 32 v'vhicli isdaptedto" connect the" passage' 2s with the" passage 26' as hereinafter described: piss valve" 12 so includes the usua passages; Shawn, adabtdi to connect the liquid passage'2-4 witha passe esain thevalv lowerj face' 21, vizj, its face zzlef28; The rotatable (Figure 1 located-centrally of the lower fac e 2'1.

Passa e 2 s extending from eat; is provided with In accordance with the arrangements of the above-mentioned Huntley and Stewart patent, the body element I also will be provided with a snift passage 38 adapted to open to a bottle sealed to the filling nozzle. A shift passage 40 is also provided to open to a snift exhaust fitting 42. Disc valve l2 will include passages to connect the liquid passages 24 and 34 as well as a passage to connect the body element snift passages 38 and 40.

The filling head body element 1 includes a downwardly extending threaded boss 44 which terminates in the above-mentioned lower face 21 of the filling head. Face 21 is provided with a central recess 48 in which the upper end of the filling nozzle 28 is fitted. Port 56 of liquid passage 34 opens to recess 48 to thereby be in communication with the central liquid passage 52 of the filling nozzle. Nozzle 28 includes a flange at its upper end which fits in recess 48 and rests upon a collar 54 bearing against the lower face 21 of body element I. Collar 54 is held in position against the face 46 by a ring-nut 49 threaded upon boss 44. Collar 54 includes a passage 56 enlarged at its upper end to receive a small sleeve 58, the passage then being inclined toward filling nozzle 28 to communicate with a groove 60 formed in the periphery of the nozzle. As is described in the above-mentioned Huntley and Stewart patent, a sleeve 62 surrounds filling nozzle 28 to close the outer portion of groove 60 and thereby form the gas passage of the filling nozzle. A bottle centering bell 83 is vertically slidable upon the filling nozzle as is described in said Huntley and Stewart patent.

It will be understood that all of the structure described above is usual and that disc valve 42 will be rotated upon stud 10 by trips spaced about the path of travel of the filling heads with the filling reservoir and filling table. These trips will successively contact with the operating arms 64 and 65 of valve l2 to first cause the gas passages 20 and 22 to be brought into communication with the gas passage 26 so that gas above the liquid in the filling reservoir will flow into the bottle through filling nozzle groove 60 to thereby establish the same pressure in the bottle that exists above the'liquid in the reservoir. Then disc valve l2 will beoperated to cause liquid passages 24 and 34 to be brought into communication so that liquid will flow from the filling reservoir and downwardly into the bottle through the liquid passage 52 of nozzle 28. During this position of disc Valve l2, body element passage 26 will be in communication with passage 20 so that gas and air will move from the bottle through nozzle groove or passage 60, passage 56 of collar 54 and thence by passage 26 of body element 1, passage 32 of disc valve I 2, passage 20 of the body element, and thence by pipe 23 to the upper portion of the filling reservoir.

In order to prevent an undue amount of liquid from rising in the just-described gas return passages in the event that liquid continues to flow into the bottle after the liquid has covered the lower end 66 of the filling nozzle gas passage 68, the invention involves the provision of the following float check valve arrangement in body element 1. Gas passage 26 is counterbored from its face 2'! to form a chamber 10 terminating in a valve seat 12. The lower end of chamber F0 is threaded as indicated at 14. A float valve 76 is positioned in chamber 10, valve 16 preferably being solid and formed of a plastic material lighter than water. The upper end of float valve 76 is of to thereby provide an annular flow path between the surface of the float valve and the chamber wall, this flow path having the same cross-sec- V tional area as the passages 28 and 56.

As is best shown in Figures 3 and 4, the retaining collar 82 includes a central bore 84 which is adapted to receive the sleeve 58 of collar 54 and the upper end of bore 84 is reduced to have the same diameter as the passages 28 and 56. At its upper end, collar 82 is diametrically notched as indicated at 8% along lines approximately 60 apart, the notches thereby forming upwardly facing projections 88 upon which the float valve 16 will rest when the float valve is in lowered position. The notches 86 are of sufficient size and depth to permit a flow therethrough of the same volume as is accommodated by the passages 28 and 56.

Float valve '59 will remain in the lowered position of Figure 2 during downward flow of gas through the gas passages. Also, under normal .gas return conditions, float valve 16 will remain lowered. When valve 15 is in its lowered position, gas will move past the valve Without restriction. In the event that liquid in the bottle beneath the filling head rises to close the port $6 and thereafter continues to rise in the gas return passages before the disc valve I2 is moved to stop liquid flow and gas return, valve 15 will prevent liquid from rising above valve chamber in. That/is, if the liquid rises in the gas return passages to such an extent as to fill chamber it, valve it will float upwardly so that its upper end will seal against the seat E2 of the chamber. Therefore, the quantity of water which can move onto the gas return passages will be a minimum. Without the provision of the chamber 10 and valve '56, the liquid could rise through the filling head and into the pipe 23 to the same level as the level of the liquid in the reservoir, viz., to a point above the passage 20. It will be understood that such an extreme rise of liquid could only occur in the case of filling heads which are in filling position at the time that operation of the machine is stopped for some reason.

After headspace pressure has been snifted from the bottle and the bottle lowered from filling nozzle 28, the liquid which has flowed into passage 50 will remain therein because the passage is of small cross-section. When a new bottle is placed in sealed relation with the filling head and disc valve l2 operated to counterpressure position, the downward flow of gas through passage 28 will move all of the liquid out of chamber It and the portion of the passage below that chamber. However, this portion of the passage is of sufficiently small crosssection and length that it will not receive and hold more than about three cubic centimeters. Furthermore, because the liquid will be directed from the nozzle against the side wall of the bottle, liquid will simply fiovr downwardly along the bottle and no foaming will result.

The provision of the above-mentioned float check valve arrangement in the filling head avoids the necessity of providing the machine with any means to blow out the counterpressure return passages of a filling head during the time that no bottle is positioned beneath the head. Such equipment is comparatively expensive compared to the cost of the simple machining operation and the cost of parts involved by use of the present invention. In more detail, the provision of the float chamber 70 opening to the lower face 21 of body element I permits the invention to be provided at minimum expense upon filling heads of standard and well-known type.

The terminology used in the specification is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, the scope of the invention being definedv in the claim.

We claim:

In a filling head for counterpressure fillers, a body element including a seatface and a face adapted to be secured to a filling machine reservoir, said body element including a first liquid passage and a first gas passage extending between said faces and respectively adapted to be connected at said second-named face to the liquid and gas containing portions of the reservoir, said body element including a third face lying substantially normal to said seat face and a second liquid and a second gas passage extending between said seat face and said third face, said second gas passage including a leg extending normal to said third face, a disc valve rotatable on said seat face and provided with fiow passages to connect the two liquid passages and the two gas passages, a filling nozzle normal to said third face and including a liquid passage in communication at said third face with the second liquid passage of said body element, said nozzle including a gas passage, a collar surrounding said nozzle adjacent said third face and including a passage to connect the nozzle gas passage and the second gas passage of said body ele ment, the leg of said second gas passage of said body element which is normal to said third face being enlarged inwardly from said third face to a point spaced from said third face and the inner end of such enlarged passage portion being provided with a valve seat, a float valve in said enlarged passage portion, and means in the outer portion of the enlarged passage portion to limit movement of said float valve away from said valve seat comprising a sleeve positioned in the enlarged passage portion, the inner portion of said sleeve being provided with circumferentially spaced openings to permit flow therethrough.

CARL L. DAY. JAMES FREEZE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 467,086 Donally Jan. 12, 1892 531,717 Clauss et a1 Jan. 1, 1895 747,729 Koedding Dec. 22, 1903 878,242 Schneider Feb. 4, 1908 2,081,159 Tamminga et a1. May 25, 1937 2,082,534 Bondurant June 1, 1937 2,145,765 Huntley et al Jan. 31, 1939 2,367,899 Stewart Jan. 23, 1945 

